Automatic call distribution systems are known in the art. In one form of automatic call distribution system, a caller is greeted with a message and asked to remain on the line for the next available agent. In addition to keeping callers waiting on hold until an agent is free, automatic call distribution systems are used commonly with workgroups. A group of agents (e.g., sales agents or technical support agents) share responsibility for handling calls that are placed into their department. The automatic call distribution system decides how to route calls to agent's phones and places overflow calls into a queue until there is an available agent. Also, the automatic call distribution system can be used to route callers to a workgroup that contains people who are most qualified to answer the caller's questions. Agents can be added to a workgroup if they obtain a desired level of skill, e.g. knowledge of a certain product line associated with the workgroup.
The queue keeps track of the order in which callers called and may also play update messages assuring the caller that their call is important and may give the caller the option of leaving a voicemail message instead of continuing to hold. Some automatic call distribution systems inform the caller of the approximate or average wait time or their position in the queue so the caller can judge whether to continue holding.
In certain automatic call distribution systems, an incoming phone call is routed to an appropriate person, typically in response to identification of the caller by caller ID.
One use of automatic call distribution systems is in connection with businesses that have a common phone number, such as an 800 number, that is advertised in a large geographic area. When a customer or potential customer calls the number, an automatic call distribution system automatically routes the call to a local store or service provider, whose service area encompasses the location from where the caller is calling. The local store may be a franchise, corporate owned, or otherwise affiliated with the company that advertises the phone number. For example, a business may advertise the same, easy to remember phone number in many geographic locations, so that someone who travels or moves does not have to memorize multiple phone numbers. When the client or potential client calls the number, the call is routed to a local office or location of the company.
Alternatively, a company may have one call center that handles all calls. Calls from certain people are routed in a particular manner based on rules applied for the caller. For example, callers who have an existing account or who are previous callers may be routed to a different person than a first time caller or their call may be processed before a first time caller. Alternatively, a caller who is known to speak a certain language may be routed to someone who speaks that language.
Such automatic call distribution systems sometimes rely on technology to automatically identify the telephone number of the calling party. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,087 to Kaplan (incorporated herein by reference) which discloses a system that translates an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) of the calling party into a customer database key or customer account number previously defined by the called party. The called business can then process the key to look up customer information and present it to a customer service representative of the called business. ANI information is useful if the business has a customer record for the calling party, e.g. in view of a previous phone call.
Attention is directed to the following U.S. patents, which relate to automatic call routing, and which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,625 to Kawecki et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,397 to Shaffer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,387 to Miloslavsky; U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,386 to Rogers et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,621 to Gottlieb; U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,983 to Dezonno et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,493 to Zisapel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,682 to Dekelbaum et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,451 to Smith, Jr.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,418 to Brady.
Prior art automatic call distribution systems typically maintain state, or know about all agents and what they are doing at any given time. This centralizes capability and limits scalability and flexibility.